Task Force

The ICRG and the Division on Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, established the Task Force on College Gambling Policies in 2008 to examine research findings and real-world experiences in student health and university policy issues to develop science-based campus gambling policies.

For more than a year, the Task Force, comprised of representatives from colleges and universities across the country, worked to combine scientific research findings with real-world experiences in student health and university policy issues to develop science-based policy recommendations about gambling that would help higher education institutions inform their students about the risks of excessive gambling, mitigate gambling-related harms and offer rehabilitative programs that can help reduce addictive behaviors

The task force focused their efforts on the topics of core prohibition and restriction policies, recovery-oriented policies and programs that recognize gambling disorders as a mental health issue, and policies on special events that involve gambling. In September 2009 the Task Force issued 10 policy recommendation that provide schools with a roadmap for reducing gambling among students and enabling those who are struggling with addiction to participate more fully in college life.

A Call to Action

View more detailed information about the task force by downloading the full “Call to Action” report.

Download the report

CollegeGambling.Org Advisory Committee

The development of CollegeGambling.org is guided by an advisory committee of leading scientists, clinicians and student life experts. The ICRG relies on the Advisory Committee to help ensure the materials it creates are firmly grounded in the highest-quality research on these issues and will be effective for the intended audiences.

The following individuals serve on the CollegeGambling.org Advisory Committee:

Chair

Patricia Ketcham, Ph.D., CHES, Oregon State University
Associate Director of Health Promotion, Student Health Services
Member, Task Force on College Gambling Policies

Members

Keith J. Anderson, Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Staff Psychologist
Chair, American College Health Association’s Mental Health Best Practices Task Force

Carlos Blanco, Ph.D., Columbia University
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

William DeJong, Ph.D., Boston University School of Public Health
Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences
Executive Director, Research and Analysis, Outside the Classroom, Inc. (OTC)

Jeff Derevensky, Ph.D., McGill University
Professor, School/Applied Child Psychology and Professor, Psychiatry
Co-director, International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders

Mary Anne Nagy, MBA, Monmouth University
Vice President for Student Services
Co-chair, Alcohol and Other Drugs National Knowledge Community, NASPA

Ryan Travia, M.Ed., Harvard University
Director, Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services, Department of Behavioral Health & Academic Counseling
Member, Task Force on College Gambling Policies